Holiday cheer on employment

The region has learned some positive news about the economy, just days before Christmas.

Gerry Tuoti, Staff Writer

The region has learned some positive news about the economy, just days before Christmas.

The unemployment rate for Taunton and nearly every surrounding community dropped for the second straight month, according to state data for November, the latest month for which figures are available.

This correlates to a second consecutive month of declines to the state average unemployment rate and one month of improvement to the national rate.

“We’re hopeful we’ve at least leveled off,” said Rena Kottcamp, research director for the state Division of Unemployment Assistance. “Hopefully that will continue. Recently, we’ve seen signs of more modest job losses and some job gains in certain sectors of the economy.”

This marks the second consecutive month of single-digit unemployment for Taunton, which had a jobless rate over 10 percent for much of the year, peaking at 10.8 percent in September.

Taunton’s current unemployment rate is down to 9.7 percent, s slight improvement over October’s figure. The state’s average unemployment rate also dipped in November, falling to 8.3 percent, down from 8.4 percent the previous month.

The U.S. rate of joblessness for November was 10.0 percent, down from 10.2 the previous month. The October figure marked the highest level of unemployment for the country since 1982.

Like many Massachusetts communities, Dighton, Freetown, Middleboro, Norton, Raynham and Rehoboth also showed improvements to the unemployment rate.

Berkley, Easton and Lakeville showed slight increases.

While Bristol County’s jobless rate fell from the previous month, it still sits at 10.8 percent, the highest of all counties in Massachusetts.

Taunton’s unemployment rate is lower than those in larger cities in the area. Fall River, New Bedford and Brockton, while all experiencing decreases in unemployment, had rates of 13.9, 14.1 and 10.8 percent, respectively.

“We think people are encouraged, but it’s really difficult because so many different things are going on,” Kottcamp said.

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